Newsletter - FOR THE WEEK

OF August 3rd, 2015
  This Week's Highlights
 
 

Ha, mawh tix! The Barnes + Noble Sale - 50% OFF all Criterions! has been extended through the long weekend! ! We have reviews of Blu-rays from Criterion, Twilight Time, Kino Lorber, Strand, Raro of features directed by François Truffaut, The Dardenne brothers, Lewis Milestone, Brian De Palma, George Roy Hill, Robert Benton and more. Our Release Calendar has new listing of films-to-Blu-ray by Henri-Georges Clouzot, Samuel Fuller, Yôji Yamada, Woody Allen, Otto Preminger. Luchino Visconti, F.W. Murnau, Jules Dassin, D.W. Griffith, Martin Scorsese, John Carpenter, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Abel Ferrara, Stanley Kubrick, Brad Bird, Wolfgang Petersen, Dan Curtis, Richard Fleischer, John Schlesinger, Albert Maysles, Tinto Brass. We have a CONTEST posted with a Blu-ray prize! Enjoy!

Feature Blu-ray and DVD chosen for the Month of AUGUST!

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(Week of) August 3rd CONTEST  identify the clip on the CONTEST PAGE to win a Blu-ray of The Erotic Rites of Frankenstein  Best of luck!
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ALL Criterion Blu-rays are 50% OFF HERE at Barnes and Noble, including:

 

My Beautiful Laundrette [Blu-ray] (Stephen Frears, 1985) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Black Stallion [Blu-ray] (Carroll Ballard, 1979) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

Here is Your Life [Blu-ray] (Jan Troell, 1966) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

Hiroshima Mon Amour [Blu-ray] (Alain Resnais, 1959) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Killers [Blu-ray] (Robert Siodmak - 1946, Andrei Tarkovsky - 1956, Don Siegel, 1964) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

Valerie and Her Week of Wonders [Blu-ray] (Jaromil Jireš, 1970) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

Five Easy Pieces [Blu-ray] (Bob Rafelson, 1970) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Fisher King [Blu-ray] (Terry Gilliam, 1991) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Bridge [Blu-ray] (Bernhard Wicki, 1959) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

My Dinner with André [Blu-ray] (Louis Malle, 1981) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

A Master Builder [Blu-ray] (Jonathan Demme, 2013) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

André Gregory & Wallace Shawn: 3 Films [Blu-ray] (My Dinner with André, Vanya on 42nd Street, A Master Builder) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Merchant of Four Seasons [Blu-ray] (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1971) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

State of Siege [Blu-ray] (Costa-Gavras, 1972) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Confession [Blu-ray] (Costa-Gavras, 1970) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Rose [Blu-ray] (Mark Rydell, 1979) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

Limelight [Blu-ray] (Charles Chaplin, 1952) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

Make Way for Tomorrow [Blu-ray] (Leo McCarey, 1937) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Friends of Eddie Coyle [Blu-ray] (Peter Yates, 1973) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

Eclipse series 42: Silent Ozu - Three Crime Dramas (Walk Cheerfully, That Night's Wife, Dragnet Girl) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

The River [Blu-ray] (Jean Renoir, 1951) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

Odd Man Out [Blu-ray] (Carol Reed, 1947) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

Sullivan's Travels [Blu-ray] (Preston Sturges, 1941) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

Hoop Dreams [Blu-ray] (Steve James, 1994) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

Cries and Whispers [Blu-ray] (Ingmar Bergman, 1972) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Thin Blue Line [Blu-ray] (Errol Morris, 1988) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

Gates of Heaven/Vernon, Florida [Blu-ray] (Errol Morris, 1978/1984) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Soft Skin [Blu-ray] (François Truffaut, 1964) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

Ride the Pink Horse [Blu-ray] (Robert Montgomery, 1947) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

Watership Down [Blu-ray] (Martin Rosen, 1978) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

Satyricon [Blu-ray] (Federico Fellini, 1969) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

An Autumn Afternoon [Blu-ray] (Yasujiro Ozu, 1962) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

Don't Look Now [Blu-ray] (Nicolas Roeg, 1973) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

A Day in the Country [Blu-ray] (Jean Renoir, 1936) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

Every Man for Himself [Blu-ray] (Jean-Luc Godard, 1980) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

La Ciénaga [Blu-ray] (Lucrecia Martel, 2001) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Palm Beach Story [Blu-ray] (Preston Sturges, 1942) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

My Winnipeg [Blu-ray] (Guy Maddin, 2007) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

Time Bandits [Blu-ray] (Terry Gilliam, 1981) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

Safe [Blu-ray] (Todd Haynes, 1995) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Night Porter [Blu-ray] (Liliana Cavani, 1974) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

L'Avventura [Blu-ray] (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960) Criterion 50% OFF! (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant [Blu-ray] (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1972) Criterion 50% OFF (BEAVER REVIEW)

LATEST ADDITIONS TO THE RELEASE CALENDAR:

The Wages of Fear [Blu-ray] (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953) RB UK BFI

House of Bamboo [Blu-ray] (Samuel Fuller, 1955) Twilight Time

The Little House [Blu-ray] (Yôji Yamada, 2014) Twilight Time

A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy [Blu-ray] (Woody Allen, 1982) Twilight Time

Summer Lovers [Blu-ray] (Randal Kleiser, 1982) Twilight Time

Otto Preminger Film Noir Collection [Blu-ray] (Fallen Angel, Whirlpool, Where the Sidewalk Ends) - RB UK BFI

Rocco and His Brothers [Blu-ray] (Luchino Visconti, 1960) RB UK BFI

Nosferatu [Blu-ray] (F.W. Murnau, 1922) RB UK BFI

Night and the City [Blu-ray] (Jules Dassin, 1950) RB UK BFI

The Birth of a Nation [Blu-ray] (D.W. Griffith, 1915) RB UK BFI

The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane [Blu-ray] (Nicolas Gessner, 1976) RB UK Signal One Entertainment

The Last Temptation of Christ [Blu-ray] (Martin Scorsese, 1988) RB UK Mediumrare

Christine [Blu-ray] (John Carpenter, 1983) Sony Pictures

Pasolini Blu-ray Collection [Blu-ray] (The Decameron, Canterbury Tales, Arabian Nights, Medea, Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom) RB UK BFI

Pasolini [Blu-ray] (Abel Ferrara, 2014) RB UK BFI

Spartacus - Restored Edition [Blu-ray] (Stanley Kubrick, 1960) Universal Studios

Tomorrowland [Blu-ray] (Brad Bird, 2015) RB UK Walt Disney Studios

Mr. Holmes [Blu-ray] (Bill Condon, 2015) RB UK Entertainment One

Love & Mercy [Blu-ray] (Bill Pohlad, 2014) Lionsgate

In the Courtyard [Blu-ray] (Pierre Salvadori, 2014) Cohen Media Group

Tut [Blu-ray] (David Von Ancken, 2015) Paramount

The Benoit Jacquot Collection [Blu-ray] (Farewell My Queen, Three Hearts) - Cohen Media

Shattered [Blu-ray] (Wolfgang Petersen, 1991) Kino Lorber

Malone [Blu-ray] (Harley Cokliss, 1987) Kino Lorber

The Return of Count Yorga [Blu-ray] (Bob Kelljan, 1971) Shout! Factory

Modern Girls [Blu-ray] (Jerry Kramer, 1986) Kino Lorber

Burnt Offerings [Blu-ray] (Dan Curtis, 1976) Kino Lorber

Mr. Majestyk [Blu-ray] (Richard Fleischer, 1974) RB UK Signal One Entertainment

The Falcon and the Snowman [Blu-ray] (John Schlesinger, 1985) RB UK 101 Films

Iris [Blu-ray] (Albert Maysles, 2014) Magnolia

The Oblong Box [Blu-ray] (Gordon Hessler, 1969) Kino Lorber

Slam Dance [Blu-ray] (Wayne Wang, 1987) Kino Lorber

Bad Man's River [Blu-ray]  (Eugenio Martin, 1971) Kino Lorber

Captain Apache [Blu-ray] (Alexander Singer, 1971) Kino Lorber

Scissors [Blu-ray] (Frank De Felitta, 1991) Kino Lorber

Lisa [Blu-ray] (Gary Sherman, 1990) Kino Lorber

The Ultimate James Bond Collection [Blu-ray] (23 films on Blu-ray from Dr. No to Skyfall) MGM

The Voyeur [Blu-ray] (Tinto Brass, 1994) Cult Epics

Heart of Midnight [Blu-ray] (Matthew Chapman, 1988) Kino Lorber

Company Business [Blu-ray] (Nicholas Meyer, 1991) Kino Lorber

Zipper [Blu-ray] (Mora Stephens, 2015) Alchemy

Poltergeist [Blu-ray] (Gil Kenan, 2015) 20th Century Fox

Gravy [Blu-ray] (James Roday, 2015) Shout! Factory

Manos: The Hands of Fate [Blu-ray] (Harold P. Warren, 1966) Synapse Films

Kwaidan [Blu-ray] (Masaki Kobayashi, 1965) Criterion

Mulholland Dr. [Blu-ray] (David Lynch, 2001) Criterion

The Brood [Blu-ray] (David Cronenberg, 1979) Criterion

My Own Private Idaho [Blu-ray] (Gus Van Sant, 1991) Criterion

A Special Day [Blu-ray] (Ettore Scola, 1977) Criterion

The Honey Pot [Blu-ray] (Joseph L. Mankiewicz , 1967) Kino Lorber

Hidden Agenda [Blu-ray] (Ken Loach, 1990) Kino Lorber

The Beast [Blu-ray] (Walerian Borowczyk, 1975) Arrow USA
 

 

ONE VOICE (not Ellsworth Monkton Toohey): All the talk is about De Palma's Dressed to Kill Criterion Blu-ray- as I said in our FB group " Frankly, I'm not as upset as most seem to be. I'm kinda glad that it WASN'T a duplicate of the MGM/Arrow video transfer. Yeah, it's not as vibrant, but more vibrant doesn't always = better, IMO. It shows significantly more information on the left edge. De Palma wouldn't have signed-off on it, if it had been some horrendously inaccurate (to theatrical or his intent) presentation. Now, next to the Criterion - both other Blus look horizontally stretched to me - from the same source. I often think that what we 'want' is not always necessarily 'correct'. That attitude simply encourages manipulation. I remember this guy getting all upset in the HTF Forum about Bob Harris' Godfather restoration. "But, it doesn't look right' he kept saying. What is 'right'? his perception? I went into this Criterion 1080P presentation with expectations of what it should look like because of the previous 2 BDs. I shouldn't have. I enjoyed the differences once I re-watched it. I inched a little more out of the film, for myself. It was fun. If it was a duplicate of the other two, I wouldn't have had that reaction. So, I am beginning to appreciate these differences keeping my 'expectations' in check. Not saying De Plama is high art or anything but, as an example, impressionism doesn't look like photos. HD doesn't ALWAYS mean tighter, crisper, richer...:" I am open to Criterion responding to the chatter - let's wait and see. Criterion still rank amongst the best this week with Truffaut's Day For Night Blu-ray blowing away the old DVDs, and the Dardenne's Two Days, One Night - a brilliant transfer, and package of a brilliant film. Twilight Time Blu-ray of A Month in the Country gives pause but its a very worthy film and highly recommended! I embraced the wholesomeness of The World of Henry Orient - what a good film - now on Blu-ray from Twilight Time. Still of the Night has Steep and Scheider in a Hitchcock-style thriller - sold on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber. The Front Page is a pre-code, screwball comedy gem - highly recommended on Blu-ray! The Fabulous Baker Boys is wonderful - don't miss it! Now on Blu-ray from Twilight Time. I enjoyed the polished Psycho Beach Party - a light, funny, spoof - fun, fun, fun and looking great on Blu-ray. Foreign Intrigue, a rare Euro-spy mystery with Robert Mitchum and available on Blu-ray from Kino. Play Motel is Euro-trash sexploitation Giallo-esque Dud - but a plot with potential. On DVD, Eric covered the acclaimed East Indian documentary War and Peace, the biographical-drama Set Fire to the Stars, the thriller Still and he unique fiction May Allah Bless France. Gregory covered the intriguing mid-60s crime drama Who Killed Teddy Bear.. Another Noir quote “Dead men are heavier than broken hearts.”.See you next week!

  THIS WEEK's REVIEWS / COMPARISONS
 

The Front Page BD - This first of four film versions of the Ben Hecht/Charlrd MacArthur Broadway hit stars Adolphe Menjou as explosive Chicago newspaper-editor Walter Burns and Pat O'Brien as his star reporter Hildy Johnson. Hildy is on the verge of getting married and retiring from Burns' dirty little tabloid, but he agrees to cover one last story: the politically motivated execution of convicted cop killer Earl Williams (George E. Stone). Thanks to the stupidity of the police, Williams manages to escape, and Johnson hides the wounded fugitive in a rolltop desk in the prison pressroom. Burns enters the scene, senses a swell story (and also a means of keeping Johnson on his payroll), and conspires with Johnson to keep Williams out of sight until they can secure an exclusive interview. Blu-ray Release Date: August 11th, 2015

Two Days, One Night BD - Oscar winner Marion Cotillard received another nomination for her searing, deeply felt performance as a working-class woman desperate to hold on to her factory job, in this gripping film from master Belgian directors Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. Cotillard is Sandra, a wife and mother who suffers from depression and discovers that, while she was home on sick leave, a majority of her coworkers voted in favor of her being laid off over giving up their annual bonuses. She then spends a Saturday and Sunday visiting them each in turn, to try to convince them to change their minds. From this simple premise, the Dardennes create a powerfully humane drama about the importance of community in an increasingly impersonal world. Blu-ray Release Date: August 25th, 2015

Foreign Intrigue BD - A wealthy man of mystery drops dead in his villa on the Riviera. His American press agent (Robert Mitchum) finds him but suspicions grow when he's asked four times in succession if his employer `said anything' before he died. So Mitchum sets out to discover who the man was and how he accumulated his fortune. He starts with the merry widow (Genevieve Page) and travels on to Vienna and Stockholm, where he falls for the daughter (Ingrid Thulin) of a deceased industrialist whom may have been a blackmail target. Mitchum finds that he, too, is being followed... Blu-ray Release Date: August 4th, 2015

Dressed to Kill BD - Brian De Palma ascended to the highest ranks of American suspense filmmaking with this virtuoso, explicit erotic thriller. At once tongue in cheek and scary as hell, Dressed to Kill revolves around the grisly murder of a woman in Manhattan and how her psychiatrist, her brainiac teenage son, and the prostitute who witnessed the crime try to piece together what happened while the killer remains at large. With its masterfully executed scenes of horror, voluptuous camera work, and passionate score, Dressed to Kill is a veritable symphony of terror, enhanced by vivid performances by Angie Dickinson, Michael Caine, and Nancy Allen. Criterion Blu-ray Release Date: August 18th, 2015

Day For Night BD - In Day for Night Truffaut clearly communicates his consummate love for film in ways certain to bring knowing smiles to all movie lovers. The homages are laid on thickly, giving film aficionados a chance to see references to the filmmakers that Truffaut admires—Buñuel, Hitchcock, Bergman, Godard, Welles, etc. Cinematic obsession doesn't leave the director when he sleeps either; he is haunted by a recurring dream that eventually leads to Truffaut's real life boyhood when he and friend Robert Lachenay would steal glossy movie stills from Montmarte theaters. No longer obsessed with making an artistic masterpiece, Ferrand continues to be consumed by his schlocky current project, and he's obviously been through the process a few times: “Making a film is like a stagecoach ride in the old west. When you start, you are hoping for a pleasant trip. By the halfway point, you just hope to survive.” Blu-ray Release Date: August 18th, 2015

Psycho Beach Party BD - Robert Lee King directs this wacky, campy fusion of teenaged surfer flicks and slasher sagas. Impossibly perky Florence (Lauren Ambrose) doesn't quite fit in at her thoroughly square high school in her seaside Southern California town -- that is, until she happens upon a band of ultra-hip surfer dudes. Renaming herself "Chicklet," she tries her gosh-darnedest to be the sole girl riding the waves with the group led by suave Kanaka (Thomas Gibson). While adopting her surfer alter ego, Florence soon discovers that other less pleasant personalities emerge when confronted with the sight of polka dots. One called Anne Bowman is a tough, "experienced" older lady, while the other, Tylene, is a stereotypical sassy black woman. Blacking out whenever these other personalities take over, Florence becomes increasingly worried that she is responsible for a series of grizzly murders. Of course, she is far from the only suspicious character in her oceanside community -- there's B-movie star Bettina Barnes (Kimberly Davies), Swedish exchange student Lars (Matt Keeslar), and Florence's own unnervingly-perfect mom (Beth Broderick). This film was adapted from a popular off-Broadway play written by Charles Busch. Blu-ray Release date: August 18th, 2015

The World of Henry Orient BD - Director George Roy Hill’s The World of Henry Orient (1964), adapted from Nora Johnson’s novel by Johnson and her father, Hollywood veteran Nunnally Johnson (The Grapes of Wrath), is an utterly original comic drama about two Manhattan schoolgirls (fabulous newcomers Tippy Walker and Merrie Spaeth), both from broken/ breaking homes, who conceive mad crushes on a pompous, ridiculous, deplorably bad pianist, the titular Orient (played with magnificent aplomb by Peter Sellers). As they trail him, with enviable freedom, from one New York haunt to another, they somehow bust up his every romantic intrigue, even as they embark on their own painful growing up. Blu-ray Release date: July, 2015

Still of the Night BD - A welcome attempt to redevelop the Hitchcock-style thriller form minus violence or supernatural bogeymen. Scheider plays a psychiatrist who falls in love with a woman (Streep) who may have brutally murdered one of his patients. The film is classy enough to be enjoyable, with a few set pieces deliberately resembling such classics as North by Northwest, Tourneur's Cat People, and others. But Benton's movie is eventually suffocated, perhaps by the gloss of the Manhattan auction world in which it is set. The plotting becomes rushed and implausible, while Streep falls into the breathless clichés of screen neuroses. Worst of all, a narrative which might have broken new ground by adding a feminine dimension, reverts to that most familiar of B feature formats: the psychological sleuth. Indeed, the hero's faith in dream interpretation would have seemed touching even in the '40s. Blu-ray Release date: August 11th, 2015

Play Motel BD - Prolific screenwriter Mario Gariazzo directed this entertainingly low-rent softcore romp set at a shady no-tell motel where a photographer surreptitiously photographs trysting lovers in order to blackmail them. For no other reason than Gariazzo's extensive background in giallo thrillers, there's a black-gloved killer roaming around, and Gloria Fava belts some horrendous songs to Ubaldo Continello's peculiar score. Ray Lovelock stars with Antonio Sabato, Marino Mase, and Antonio De Teffe. Fans of Andrea Bianchi's flamboyant Malabimba (released the same year) will be amused to see Enzo Fisichella and Patrizia De Rossi together again. There is, of course, plenty of skin for the casual viewer. Blu-ray Release date: August 25th, 2015

A Month in the Country BD - In the summer of 1920, two traumatised victims of World War I meet in a Yorkshire village: Birkin (Firth), who stutters, has come to restore a mural in the local church, and Moon (Branagh), still tormented by nightmares, has come to excavate the land around it. Birkin falls for the beautiful wife (Richardson) of the uncharitable vicar (Malahide), and Moon falls for Birkin. Neither gets what he wants, but together they succeed in solving a minor mystery. O'Connor directs Simon Gray's script with great sensitivity. It's all taken at a gentle pace, but dullness is averted by a sly humour. The pretty-prettiness of Hovis commercials is not always avoided, and recurrent images of the apocalyptic painting, intended to give the rather pat plot a mystical resonance, don't; but all the performances are accomplished, and that of Firth is brilliant. Blu-ray Release date: July, 2015

The Fabulous Baker Boys BD - Writer-director Steve Kloves made his spectacular directorial debut with The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989), a music-drenched romance starring real-life brothers Jeff Bridges and Beau Bridges as Jack and Frank, a pair of tapped-out sibling lounge pianists. Looking to perk up their act, they take on a girl singer in the person of a tough little cookie, Susie Diamond (the stunning Michelle Pfeiffer). But even as the trio finds success, long-buried problems between the brothers rise to the surface, sparked by the wary romance between Jack and Susie. Blu-ray Release date: July, 2015

Set Fire to the Stars - Based on true events, Elijah Wood stars as John Malcolm Brinnin, the New York academic who brought Dylan Thomas to America. Actor/co-writer Celyn Jones plays the volatile celebrity poet - tormented by anonymity, alcohol and the abyss - who scandalized the Manhattan literati of the Fifties and challenged Brinnin's hero worship of his work. In the face of the Welsh poet's wilder excesses in the Big Apple - angel, beast and madman - John has no choice but to hijack Dylan to a private retreat to get him ready for America. The days and nights that follow will change his life forever. Part literary biopic and - shot in cut-glass black-and-white - part love-letter to the American B-movies of the Forties and Fifties, Andy Goddard's debut feature is both a character driven chamber piece and a cautionary tale about the fly trap of meeting your heroes. DVD Release Date: July 21st, 2015

May Allah Bless France - Regis, a young, black teenager whose sole aspiration is to be a successful rap artist, must first overcome the underprivileged, drug-ridden French suburbs of his upbringing in this black and white debut from hip-hop musician Abd Al Malik. Amidst his double life as a petty criminal and an aspiring artist, Regis eventually finds Islam after the death of a close friend. The film, based on Malik's real-life experiences, follows the young convert as he navigates the music industry, street violence and racism, leading him to newfound fame in the world of rap and slam-poetry. DVD Release Date: August 11th, 2015

War and Peace - Filmed over four tumultuous years in India, Pakistan, Japan and the USA following nuclear tests in the Indian sub-continent, and framed by the murder of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, an act whose portent and poignancy remains undiminished half a century later, War and Peace is a documentary journey of peace activism in the face of global militarism and war. The film examines the sub-continent s trajectory towards unabashed militarism and the costs being extracted from citizens in the name of national security. From the plight of residents living near the nuclear test site to the horrendous effects of uranium mining on local indigenous populations, it becomes abundantly clear that contrary to a myth first created by the United States, there is no such thing as the 'peaceful Atom'. DVD Release Date: 27 July 27th, 2015

Who Killed Teddy Bear - Spinning platters in a seedy discotheque, Juliet Prowse starts getting obscene phone calls then finds a decapitated teddy bear in her apartment. Police detective Jan Murray takes the case, which holds an obsessive interest for him. Four years earlier his wife had been raped and murdered; now the world of perversion and fetishism has become his life, both professionally and privately (despite a young daughter, who listens to him listening to his lurid tapes from her bedroom). Prowse becomes so shaken by the stalking that she can't quite trust him, or for that matter her tough-as-nails boss Elaine Stritch, who, invited home to serve as protection, makes a pass at her. Shown the door, Stritch, in a slip and fur coat, wanders the dark streets and back alleys, where.... DVD Release Date: January 26th, 2009

Still - Although billed as a gritty thriller, it is only half-way through the meandering STILL that it becomes that the film is about the mental deterioration of its protagonist; and the still-ness of the title is the psychological inertia of its main character as others manage to move on, if only by small degrees that seem monumental next to him. Gillen makes his character a compelling watch (especially in his scenes with Mealing), but the things that happen outside of his character's purview merely pad out the running time by fleshing out characters in ways that have little bearing on the relations with the protagonist (even though much more of that seems to have hit the cutting room floor along with entire characters going by the deleted scenes selection). DVD Release Date: June 30th, 2015
 

 Next 4 weeks on the Calendar

August 3rd, 2015

 

24 Hours to Kill (Peter Bezencenet, 1965) R2 UK Network

Big House, U.S.A. [Blu-ray] (Howard W. Koch, 1955) Kino Lorber (BEAVER REVIEW)

Brother's Keeper [Blu-ray] (T.J. Amato, Josh Mills, 2013) Alchemy

The Casual Vacancy [Blu-ray] (Jonny Campbell, 2015) Warner

Far from the Madding Crowd [Blu-ray] (Thomas Vinterberg, 2015) 20th Century Fox

Foreign Intrigue [Blu-ray] (Sheldon Reynolds, 1956) Kino Lorber (BEAVER REVIEW)

He Ran All the Way [Blu-ray] (John Berry, 1951) Kino Lorber (BEAVER REVIEW)

Innerspace [Blu-ray] (Joe Dante, 1987) Warner

Insurgent [Blu-ray] (Robert Schwentke, 2015) Lionsgate

Killing Zoe [Blu-ray] (Roger Avary, 1993) RB UK Fabulous Films

A Little Chaos [Blu-ray] (Alan Rickman, 2014) Universal Studios

Madame Bovary [Blu-ray] (Sophie Barthes, 2014) Alchemy

Nekromantik [Blu-ray] (Jörg Buttgereit, 1987) RB UK Arrow Films

Night and the City [Blu-ray] (Jules Dassin, 1950) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Nor the Moon By Night (Ken Annakin, 1958) R2 UK Network

The Salvation [Blu-ray] (Kristian Levring, 2014) MPI

Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water 3D [Blu-ray] [Region Free] - Paramount UK

Storm Fear [Blu-ray] (Cornel Wilde, 1955) Kino Lorber (BEAVER REVIEW)

True Story [Blu-ray] (Rupert Goold, 2015) 20th Century Fox

 

August 10th, 2015

 

Bogus [Blu-ray] (Norman Jewison, 1996) Warner

Boys on the Side [Blu-ray] (Herbert Ross, 1995) New Regency Pictures

The Circus [Blu-ray] (Charles Chaplin, 1928) RB UK Artificial Eye

Eclipse Series 43: Agnès Varda in California (Uncle Yanco, Black Panthers, Lions Love (. . . and Lies), Mur murs, Documenteur) Criterion

The Front Page [Blu-ray] (Lewis Milestone, 1931) Kino Lorber (BEAVER REVIEW)

The French Lieutenant's Woman [Blu-ray] (Karel Reisz, 1981) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Gold Rush [Blu-ray] (Charles Chaplin, 1925) RB UK Artificial Eye

Hellfighters [Blu-ray] (Andrew V. McLaglen, 1968) Universal Studios

Horror Hospital [Blu-ray] (Antony Balch, 1973) RB UK Odeon Entertainment

House of Bamboo [Blu-ray] (Samuel Fuller, 1955) Twilight Time

I Am Chris Farley [Blu-ray] (Brent Hodge, Derik Murray, 2015) Virgil Films

The January Man [Blu-ray] (Pat O'Connor, 1989) Kino Lorber

The Kid [Blu-ray] (Charles Chaplin, 1921) RB UK Artificial Eye

The Little House [Blu-ray] (Yôji Yamada, 2014) Twilight Time

A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy [Blu-ray] (Woody Allen, 1982) Twilight Time

The Monster That Challenged the World [Blu-ray] (Arnold Laven, 1957) Kino Lorber (BEAVER REVIEW)

The North Star [Blu-ray] (Nils Gaup, 1996) Warner

The People Under The Stairs [Blu-ray] (Wes Craven, 1991) - Shout! Factory

Still of the Night [Blu-ray] (Robert Benton, 1982) Kino Lorber (BEAVER REVIEW)

Summer Lovers [Blu-ray] (Randal Kleiser, 1982) Twilight Time

Timbuktu [Blu-ray] (Abderrahmane Sissako, 2014) RB UK Artificial Eye

War-Gods of the Deep [Blu-ray] (Jacques Tourneur, 1965) Kino Lorber (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Weak and the Wicked (J. Lee Thompson, 1954) R2 UK Network

 

 

August 17th, 2015

 

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared [Blu-ray] (Felix Herngren, 2013) Music Box Films

About Elly [Blu-ray] (Asghar Farhadi, 2009) Cinema Guild

Angel Heart [Blu-ray] (Alan Parker, 1987) Lions Gate

Burn, Witch, Burn [Blu-ray] (Sidney Hayers, 1962) Kino Lorber

Cruel Story of Youth [Blu-ray] (Nagisa Ôshima, 1960) RB UK Masters of Cinema

Day for Night [Blu-ray] (François Truffaut, 1973) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Dressed to Kill [Blu-ray] (Brian De Palma, 1980) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Elena [Blu-ray] (Andrey Zvyagintsev, 2011) Zeitgeist Films

Face to Face [Blu-ray] (Sergio Sollima, 1967) Kino Lorber (BEAVER REVIEW)

La Grande Bouffe [Blu-ray] (Marco Ferreri, 1973) Arrow US

La Grande Bouffe [Blu-ray] (Marco Ferreri, 1973) RB UK Arrow

Hackers [Blu-ray] (Iain Softley, 1995) Shout! Factory

Life In Squares [Blu-ray] (Simon Kaijser, 2015) RB UK Dazzler

Midnight Menace (Sinclair Hill, 1937) R2 UK Network

My Darling Clementine + Frontier Marshall [Limited Edition Blu-ray] - RB UK Arrow Academy

Naked Lunch [Blu-ray] (David Cronenberg, 1991) RB UK Studiocanal

Navajo Joe [Blu-ray] (Sergio Corbucci, 1966) Kino Lorber

Nightmare Castle [Blu-ray] (Mario Caiano, 1965) Severin

Nomads [Blu-ray] (John McTiernan, 1986) - Shout! Factory

Pickup On South Street [Blu-ray] (Samuel Fuller, 1953) RB UK Masters of Cinema

Psycho Beach Party [Blu-ray] (Robert Lee King, 2000) Strand Releasing (BEAVER REVIEW)

A Reason to Live, A Reason to Die [Blu-ray] (Tonino Valerii, 1972) Kino Lorber

Strangerland [Blu-ray] (Kim Farrant, 2015) Alchemy

A Town Called Hell [Blu-ray] (Robert Parrish, Irving Lerner, 1971) Kino Lorber

The Unbelievers [Blu-ray] (Gus Holwerda, 2013) FilmRise

Videodrome [Blu-ray] (David Cronenberg, 1983) RB UK Arrow

Walt Disney Animation Studios Short Films Collection [Blu-ray] - Disney

Wolcott [Blu-ray] (Colin Bucksey, 1981) RB UK Network

Z Storm [Blu-ray] (David Lam, 2014) Well Go USA

 

August 24th, 2015

 

Angels One Five [Blu-ray] (George More O'Ferrall, 1952) RB UK Studiocanal

Around the World with Orson Welles [Blu-ray] - RB UK BFI

The Babysitter [Blu-ray] (Guy Ferland, 1995) Olive Films

Big Game [Blu-ray] (Jalmari Helander, 2014) Starz / Anchor Bay

Blood Rage [Blu-ray] (John Grissmer, 1987) Arrow US

Blood Rage [Blu-ray] (John Grissmer, 1987) RB UK Arrow

British Noir: Five Film Collection - They Met in the Dark (1943), The October Man (1947), Snowbound (1948), The Golden Salamander (1950) and The Assassin (1952) - Kino

Citizenfour [Blu-ray] (Laura Poitras, 2014) Starz / Anchor Bay

City Lights [Blu-ray] (Charles Chaplin, 1931) RB UK Artificial Eye

Daniel [Blu-ray] (Sidney Lumet, 1983) Olive Films

Easy Money / Men At Work [Blu-ray] - Shout! Factory

Eaten Alive [Blu-ray] (Tobe Hooper, 1977) Arrow Video USA

Eaten Alive [Blu-ray] (Tobe Hooper, 1977) Arrow Video UK

Eyes Without a Face [Blu-ray] (Georges Franju, 1960) BFI (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Great Dictator [Blu-ray] (Charles Chaplin, 1940) RB UK Artificial Eye

The Harder They Come [Blu-ray] (Perry Henzell, 1972) RB UK Odeon Entertainment

Harry [Blu-ray] (Peter Burger and Christopher Dudman, 2013) Acorn

Iris [Blu-ray] (Albert Maysles, 2014) Magnolia

Jacob's Ladder [Blu-ray] (Adrian Lyne,1990) Lions Gate

The Last American Virgin [Blu-ray] (Boaz Davidson, 1982) Olive Films

The Legacy [Blu-ray] (Richard Marquand, 1978) Shout! Factory

Lila & Eve [Blu-ray] (Charles Stone III, 2015) Entertainment One

Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions [Blu-ray] (Tatsuya Ishihara , 2012) RB UK Manga Entertainment

Madman [Blu-ray] (Joe Giannone, 1982) RB UK Arrow Films

The Maggie [Blu-ray] (Alexander Mackendrick, 1954) RB UK Studiocanal

Medium Cool [Blu-ray] (Haskell Wexler, 1969) RB UK Masters of Cinema

Metamorphosis / Beyond Darkness [Blu-ray] - Shout! Factory

Modern Times [Blu-ray] (Charles Chaplin, 1936) RB UK Artificial Eye

Monsieur Verdoux [Blu-ray] (Charles Chaplin, 1947) RB UK Artificial Eye

Nightmare City [Blu-ray] (Umberto Lenzi, 1980) RB UK Arrow

Play Motel [Blu-ray] (Mario Gariazzo, 1979) Raro (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Reivers [Blu-ray] (Mark Rydell, 1969) Kino Lorber

The Return of Dragon (Eduard Grecner, 1968) R2 UK Second Run

The Revengers [Blu-ray] (Daniel Mann, 1972) Kino Lorber

The Runner [Blu-ray] (Austin Stark, 2015) Millennium Media Services

The Sender [Blu-ray] (Roger Christian, 1982) Olive Films

The Singing Detective [Blu-ray] (Keith Gordon, 2003) Olive Films

State of Grace [Blu-ray] (Phil Joanou, 1990) Second Sight

Throne of Blood [Blu-ray] (Akira Kurosawa, 1957) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

The Town That Dreaded Sundown [Blu-ray] (Charles B. Pierce, 1976) RB UK Eureka (BEAVER REVIEW)

Two Days, One Night [Blu-ray] (Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne, 2014) Criterion (BEAVER REVIEW)

Vivre Sa Vie [Blu-ray] (Jean-Luc Godard, 1962) - RB UK BFI

Welcome to New York [Blu-ray] (Abel Ferrara, 2014) MPI

Where Hope Grows [Blu-ray] (Chris Dowling, 2014) Lions Gate
   
   
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